1. INTRODUCTION
Each year the Prix Italia, founded at Capri in 1948, organises an International Competition which awards prizes for Radio, Television and Multimedia programmes.
1.1 AIMS
Its aims are:
- to promote and celebrate quality, innovation and creativity in the production of Radio and Television programmes and Web content;
- to encourage member organisations to broadcast the programmes entered in the competition;
- to encourage communication and co-operation between all those who work creatively in the field of Radio, Television and the Web;
- to stimulate the study, understanding and discussion of creative and cultural issues relating to these means of expression.
1.2 MEMBERS
Only broadcasting organisations duly authorised by the competent authorities are eligible to be members of the Prix Italia. They must provide a national service or guarantee through syndication the widest diffusion of the programmes throughout the country and assume direct creative and financial responsibility for the programmes they broadcast. If in any country several organisations of a regional nature are grouped together in one national association, then only that body may participate in the Prix Italia, representing them all. Applications for membership can only be accepted by the General Assembly.
The Secretariat formally accepts the applications for membership submitted by broadcasters which are owned or controlled by Prix Italia member organisations or their subsidiaries, provided that these companies are duly authorised by their respective authorities. The new applicants will be required to pay their respective entry fee.
Should a member organisation change its official name and/or legal status and/or logo, it is required to immediately inform the Prix Italia Secretariat.
2. BODIES
The bodies of the Prix Italia are:
- the General Assembly
- the Secretariat.
2.1 GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly, made up of representatives of the member organisations, takes all decisions by a simple majority vote. An assembly is held once a year, during the competition. Other assemblies may be called by the Secretary General or at the request of two fifths of the member organisations. These assemblies must take place within three months of the request being received and with one month’s notice.
The General Assembly:
- appoints the President, who is proposed by Rai. The President may not be elected more than three times consecutively;
- amends the Regulations of the Prix Italia;
- approves the admission of new members;
- approves the Presidents’ reports on jury work;
- approves the composition of the juries for the following edition;
- forms working groups for the study of specific subjects. These groups are chaired by the current President of the General Assembly;
- approves the report of the Secretary General;
- approves the introduction of special prizes;
- approves the financial report, relating to the amount of fees and prize money, which is annually submitted by the Secretariat.
The outgoing Presidents automatically become members, free of charge, of an Advisory Committee which supports the Secretary General in pursuing Prix Italia’s goals and in strengthening the Festival. The members may offer non-binding opinions, suggestions and advice, take part in meetings convened by the Secretary General and, following his/her favourable opinion, they propose the participation, again free of charge, of international network and new media experts.
2.2 SECRETARIAT
The Secretariat is permanently entrusted to Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana, promoter of the Prix Italia, which appoints the Secretary General. Rai also covers the expenses of the Secretariat. The Secretariat is responsible for implementing Prix Italia’s aims, promoting every activity with this purpose in mind and making all the necessary arrangements for running the competition.
To this end the Secretariat:
- organises the annual edition, prepares the meetings of the juries, the listening/viewing of the entries in the competition, the meeting of the General Assembly and keeps its minutes;
- collects information from the organisations regarding the professional qualifications and experience of the jurors making it available via various means of communication;
- provides the jurors with the Regulations and the texts of the programmes;
- checks that the programmes conform to the Regulations;
- checks the voting process of programmes and draws up the list of the seven entries in each category which received the most votes from their respective jury;
- posts the list of the finalist programmes on the Prix web site;
- maintains contact with member organisations;
- maintains contact with the press and with bodies and organisations outside the Prix Italia;
- attends to administrative and financial matters;
- receives the funds for the running costs and technical expenses from Rai;
- proposes to the General Assembly the amount of the subscription fees;
- receives subscription fees and allocates them to the prize money;
- receives any other funds to be allocated to the prize money after the approval of the General Assembly or, by proxy of the General Assembly, of the Secretary General;
- pays the prize money to the organisations which have submitted the winning entries;
- organises, maintains and administers the central Archive of the Prix Italia;
- convokes the meeting of the General Assembly, takes down its minutes which it sends to the members for approval;
- may invite member organisations to cast their vote in writing between one edition of a General Assembly and another and/or in matters of urgency.
3. RADIO COMPETITION
All radio programmes belonging to the following categories may be entered in the Prix Italia competition:
3.1 MUSIC
Music-composed works (programmes specifically composed and recorded for radio, which stand out for their creativity and sound exploration) and/or programmes (or part of a programme) about any kind of music attracting a broader audience. The prize is awarded to the best programme which intentionally and creatively promotes the spreading of musical culture, regardless of genre.
3.2 DRAMA
Original works (new pieces especially written for Radio) and/or radio adaptations (programmes inspired by already-existing works).
On selecting programmes to be entered in this category, the organisations should bear in mind the following features: modernity of the issues raised; ability to capture the attention of a young audience and exploration of new technology.
3.3 DOCUMENTARY AND REPORTAGE
Cultural, social and general interest documentaries – may also deal with arts, music, science – produced with or without material from the archives and/or reportage (investigative programmes, also when part of a feature programme). The prize is awarded for creativity, sound exploration and overall best quality and, in the case or reportage, for originality of investigative approach and narrative language and for its ability in placing news and events in context, using eyewitness accounts, primary sources and interviews.
4. TV COMPETITION
Every television programme falling into the following categories may be entered in the Prix Italia competition:
4.1 PERFORMING ARTS
Performing Arts (creative works of music, theatre, dance, figurative arts and animated productions made for television which have relevance with performing arts) and/or music and arts documentaries (works dealing with subjects concerning music and various forms of the arts).
4.2 DRAMA
TV movies and mini-series and/or series and serials.
TV Movies : works made for television, aired in one or two parts.
Mini-Series : works based on a single narrative, which for scheduling reasons are shown over two or a maximum of three evenings.
Series : series of programmes, featuring a relatively stable cast of characters, general themes, title and content line, where each episode develops an independent and complete narrative.
Serials : series of programmes, featuring a relatively stable cast of characters, general themes, title and content line, where individual episodes are not independent programmes in their own right but where the beginning of each episode presupposes knowledge of previous episodes and where the end requires further narrative development in ensuing episodes.
4.3 DOCUMENTARY
Cultural and general interest documentaries and/or current affairs documentaries.
5. WEB COMPETITION
Every web project falling into the following categories may be entered in the Prix Italia competition:
5.1 FACTUAL
Online projects which, through the use of sites and/or apps and/or social networks, aim to provide information, experience and real content in a technologically advanced and highly interactive manner.
5.2 ENTERTAINMENT
Online projects which, through the use of sites and/or apps and/or social networks, aim to entertain the audience with music, TV series, interactive games etc., in a technologically advanced and highly interactive manner.
6. PRIZES
The competition awards 8 prizes: 3 to the Radio competition, 3 to the TV competition and 2 to the Web competition.
RADIO COMPETITION
Music
- Prix Italia
Drama
- Prix Italia
Documentary and Reportage
- Prix Italia
TELEVISION COMPETITION
Performing Arts
- Prix Italia
Drama
- Prix Italia
Documentary
- Prix Italia
WEB COMPETITION
Factual
- Prix Italia
Entertainment
- Prix Italia
The monetary amount of the 8 prizes is set each year by the General Assembly according to the total amount of the fees received in order to take part in the competition. Were a jury to decide not to award a prize, the sum of money in question is to be equally shared among the other prizes.
The prizes are awarded by the 7 juries: 3 for Radio (Music, Drama, Documentary and Reportage), 3 for Television (Performing Arts, Drama, Documentary) and 1 for Web (Factual, Entertainment).
7. PROGRAMMES
The programmes submitted to the competition:
- must present elements of quality and innovation; be capable of enhancing the radio, television or multimedia experience; meet the needs of a broad and constantly evolving public;
- may be completely original or inspired by existing works, in that juries should especially take into account the programmes’ distinctive radio, television or web character;
- must not advertise in any way;
- must have been produced, co-produced or commissioned by the submitting organisation. In the event of a co-production between members, the organisation wishing to submit such a production must first obtain agreement from any co-producers which are members of the Prix Italia and must state their names on the entry form;
- may not be presented by more than one competing organisation. Were this found to be the case, only the organisation which was the first to submit the programme may enter it in the competition. The other organisations are requested by the Secretariat to submit another programme to the jury;
- in the case of radio or television programmes, they must have been broadcast by the submitting organisation not more than two years before the edition, or scheduled for broadcast, in the same form in which they have been submitted, before the next edition of the competition;
- may be entered only once in the competition. The submission of the programme to one jury rules it out, simultaneously or subsequently, in any other jury of the official competition;
- for television, including English-speaking entries, must be made intelligible preferably in English by subtitling, dubbing or the addition of a sound-track, unless the juries are provided with a precise statement as to why this condition has not been met. Programmes in French, preferably subtitled in English, can be accepted also in the original language;
- were an episode of a series, should be accompanied by a summary of the other episodes;
- if entered in the Web categories and in the event that the organisation has made substantial structural changes to the project prior to the beginning of the competition, the entry must be submitted together with updated explanatory notes. Furthermore, were an English version of the project not to be available, competitors must provide presentations, synopses, walkthroughs, annotated screenshots, transcripts and/or any other suitable material in English to enable the jury to understand the project.
At every edition of the Prix, each organisation may enter programmes in every category. The submitting organisation has the responsibility to choose the category in which its programme is to compete. An incorrect classification leads to the removal of the programme by the jury.
7.1 NUMBER AND LENGTH OF THE PROGRAMMES
Radio Competition
- every organisation may enter a maximum of four programmes, with a maximum of two in each jury;
- no restriction has been placed on the overall length of the submitted programmes, although participants should bear in mind that the juries will only assess programmes of a reasonable length.
Television Competition
- every organisation may enter a maximum of four programmes, with a maximum of two in each jury;
- no restriction has been placed on the overall length of the submitted programmes, although participants should
bear in mind that the juries will only assess programmes of a reasonable length.
Web Competition
- every organisation may enter a maximum of four projects.
7.2 STANDARD
Radio and Television programmes submitted to the competition must be sent in the format stated in the entry forms. Programmes submitted to the Prix Italia shall conform with the recommendations of the CCIR (International Radio Consultative Committee) and of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union).
Web projects entered in the competition should be accessible via the most popular browsers and/or mobile devices and connected TV, where appropriate. Participants should state on which platforms their project is available. It is the responsibility of participants to ensure members of the jury have total access to their projects. This may involve releasing temporary accounts to fee-based services.
8. RIGHTS
Member organisations are free to choose, regardless of nationality, those authors responsible for the programmes to be entered. The member organisations must provide the Secretariat within the deadline with a signed entry form stating that they authorise:
- the widest possible broadcasting of the entries, making it as easy as possible for the programmes to be listened to/viewed by the organisations requesting them;
- the listening and viewing of the programmes by jurors, delegates, accredited journalists, observers, scholars or persons invited by the Secretariat;
- the copying of submitted programmes in the digitalised Archive of the Prix Italia. Only Prix members are allowed to consult this Archive. On request, consultation may be granted for the purpose of documentation, study and academic research. The downloading of programmes is not permitted in any circumstance;
- the production by the Prix Italia of a promotional DVD containing up to a maximum of 3 minutes of each programme submitted to the competition;
- the use of up to 3 minutes of each work entered in the competition during programmes made by Rai in order to promote and report the Festival;
- the use on the Internet, for promo motives, of clips of the competing programmes;
- the consultation of pre-selected programmes, granted exclusively to Prix members, for a maximum length of one month following the end of the Festival, for promotional and non-profit purposes. This consultation will be possible using a password and no downloading will be permitted. Authorisation for consultation must be specifically stated in the entry form. Were the submitting organisation not to have provided the Prix Italia Secretariat with the latter authorisation, the programme is nonetheless eligible to compete.
The winning programmes of every competition category must bear the Prix Italia logo in their credits, in their promotional material and on the homepage of their websites.
9. PARTICIPATION
The Secretariat will inform member organisations, within reasonable time, of the dates by which they will be required to submit the following material for the competition:
- the entry form;
- the synopsis of the programme in English and French;
- the recording, made according to the format stated in the entry forms, of the submitted Radio and/or TV programme, one copy for the radio and one for television programme;
- the recording of a sixty second clip of the submitted programmes, which will be used by the Secretariat during official ceremonies. Were the recording not to have been sent, the Secretariat reserves the right to instead use the first sixty seconds of the programme;
- the text of the Radio and TV programmes, to be sent by e-mail or attached to the entry form, translated into English and, if possible, also into French; for music programmes, in particular for radio programmes, a copy of the score or an equivalent is required;
- any illustrative material and information which may aid an understanding of the programme, such as explanatory notes, biographies, filmographies and photographs of the creators, cast and scenes.
10. JURIES
The juries are composed of qualified persons appointed by the organisations and chosen from among experts in the respective genres. Jury members should have a good command of at least the English language and should be instructed by the Secretariat to read Art. 10.1 of the Regulations (Working procedures). The choice of organisations, which are represented in each jury, is based on a rotation system so as to allow the widest possible participation in the composition of the juries. In every edition of the Prix, each organisation should appoint a representative in the jury to which it has been assigned. No representative may sit on a jury which is asked to judge a programme or project in whose production he/she has been directly involved. The travel and accommodation expenses incurred by the jury members, as for all other delegates, are paid by the organisations they represent.
10.1 WORKING PROCEDURES
The Secretariat organises the online pre-listening and pre-viewing of every work entered in the competition. The jurors are required to also make a pre-selection of the works entered in their respective categories by the deadline set by the Secretariat. The pre-selection will take place within the framework of a shared environment (“Forum”), which can be only accessed by jurors of each category who will elect their respective Presidents by an absolute majority, prior to the start of the pre-listening/viewing process. During this phase, the Secretariat will keep in contact with the Jury Presidents so as to be briefed about progress in jury working procedures while bearing in mind the absolute autonomy of both the jury members and their respective Presidents. The Presidents ensure that jury members, who have not attended the pre-listening/viewing of all the programmes, are excluded from the voting.
Once the respective Jury Presidents have been informed by the Prix Italia Secretariat, the list of the finalists will be posted on the Prix Italia website prior to the beginning of the Festival.
Prior to the beginning of the session, the juries must:
- perform their work in accordance with the Regulations of the Prix Italia;
- listen to/view online the works entered in their respective categories;
- read all the explanatory documents prepared by the Secretariat on the basis of the information received from the organisations;
- discuss the programmes as fully as possible, offering each member the opportunity to defend his/her point of view;
- assess the works in competition on the basis of a series of criteria provided by the Secretariat;
- cast a vote for the programmes in competition by the deadline set by the Secretariat, which will single out the seven programmes which obtained the most votes in each category.
During the Festival, the juries:
- meet on the day and hour set by the Secretariat to be briefed on their duties, the voting procedure and the precedents connected with the competition. No appointed jury member can become an effective jury member without attending this briefing and taking part in the preselection process;
- attend the listening/viewing of the pre-selected programmes behind closed doors. Were the jury not to award a prize, the reason for that decision must be communicated in writing;
- discuss the programmes as fully as possible, offering each member the opportunity to defend his/her point of view;
- meet to deliberate with the aid of a member of the Secretariat especially selected for this purpose. No jury decision is deemed to be officially valid were this condition not to be met. Were, following a general debate regarding the overall quality of the programmes, a jury member to maintain that no programme is deemed worthy of receiving a Prix Italia prize, a vote is taken by a show of hands in order to decide on assigning the award. Were the majority of jury members to decide not to award the prize, the jurors must explain their motivation in their report. The sum of money in question is to be equally shared among the other prizes. This vote must be taken prior to any other;
- proceed with the vote to award the Prix Italia according to criteria freely adopted by the juries themselves. Decisions are taken by an absolute majority of expressed votes. If at the sixth ballot a majority has not been reached, the President has the deciding vote. The President ensures that members, who have not attended the listening/viewing of all programmes, are excluded from the voting. The jury does not award shared prizes;
- draw up a report on their work, in which they state the programmes which have been awarded a prize and why; they name the production considered the most interesting and give their general observations; they make observations, remarks or suggestions aimed at improving the Regulations, their application and the working procedure of the juries. Their reports are submitted to the General Assembly by their own Presidents or representatives;
- announce the winning programmes at the end of the Festival.
11. SUBSCRIPTION FEES
Membership of the Prix Italia requires the payment of an annual subscription fee fixed each year for the following year by the General Assembly, on the proposal of the Secretariat. The fee must exclusively be paid by member organisations which take part in the competition with programmes and/or jurors. Neither Prix Italia nor Rai will issue any invoice since the subscription fees will be entirely devoted to the monetary prizes.
The total amount paid by the organisations in the form of subscription fees in order to take part in the Radio, TV and Web competitions constitutes the sum of money for the eight prizes, which is to be awarded to the eight winners of the Radio, TV and Web categories. Were a prize not to be awarded, the sum of money will be equally shared among the other prizes. The prize money is to be paid by the Secretariat to each organisation whose work has been declared a Prix Italia winner.
The organisation is to share the prize among those entitled to it.
The organisation which has failed to pay its subscription fee within the set deadline, is neither entitled to appoint a representative in the juries nor to take part in the competition.
12. WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERSHIP
Organisations intending to withdraw their membership from Prix Italia must formally notify the Secretariat.
13. LANGUAGES
The Regulations are drawn up in English, French and Italian.
